User Reviews

Reviews by necoadam:

Medium black in color, cloudy as well. Good tan head on this one. Smell was quite roasty. Roasted malts and chocolate have a hold on this brew. Hops have a presence in the background to give it a dry aspect to it. Taste was good. Roasted malts and cocoa start out and pretty much finish this brew. Hops jump around the palate a few times to balance out the beer. Mouthfeel was light medium I thought, perhaps a bit too thin for this kind of stout. Saying that, the alcohol kinda creeps up and has a effect in the aftertaste. But other than that, a beer to check out for a disgestive.

On tap at the brewpub. Very competent stout. Black with lace. Suitable and even understated carbonation. Not too roasty,On the tad sweet side, the brews tend to be well malted though not overally, just to make it drinkable as opposed to slow sippers.

On cask, via hand pump, @ American Flatbread Burlington Hearth (Burlington, VT) on 2/19/11. Served in a pint glass. The board indicates that that this is brewed with lavender and cocoa.

Pours black, with a ½ finger of foamy light mocha head. This retains with quite the rich and sudsy cask look, leaving back a good bit of frothy spotty lacing. The lavender here is coming out mostly as a light floral feel but the nose mostly has a dark tanginess going on with it, courtesy of sweet cocoa, creamy vanilla, roasted malts, and citric hops. Maybe just a smidge of warmth is present here as well.

The taste is sweet up front with those creamy chocolate malts and some dry powdery cocoa flavors before giving way to dark roasted coffee notes and earthy citric hops across the back of the profile. The finish here is a lingering dry and bitter combo of the two. Much like the nose, I'm picking up the lavender as a gentle floral flavor here in the profile that lingers on the breath a bit. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and crisp up front before a mellower and creamy feel takes this towards the swallow. This is pretty easy feeling overall but still has a bit of a sharp oomph to it in spots.

This was a nice nightcap to our day of drinking in Burlington and worked just a well as the dessert to our meal here as well! Lots of sweetness, roast, and bitterness were here in equal amounts and the cask really helped meld everything together and keep things smooth. Nice stuff!

Appears a midnite black with a 1 finger tan head and small spotty lacing.
Smell is of roasted malts with hints of chocolate and bitter hops. Perhaps a hint of crystal malt can be detected also.
Taste is of roasted maltiness and a bit of toasted malts.
Mouthfeel is smooth and medium bodied. Semi dry finish.
Drinkability...The smoothness makes it easy to go down.

On tap at the source.
Pours a solid black color with a creamy tan head that sticks lots of lace on the side of the glass. Smells roasty and chocolaty with hints of caramel and earthy hops. Taste follows the smell to a tee. My wife reminded me that I took the first sip and said damn that's good. Medium body with a moderate level of carbonation and a smooth slick mouthfeel. That is a nice stout!

Served a deep dark blackish color with a nice tan headskie. Tastes full and roasted with all sorts of dryness in every corner of the beer to make your thirst need quenching. Solid flavor balance makes this a great example of the style worth checking out.

Pours a dark, black color with a nice brown nose. Aroma is roasty with hints of coffee. Taste is somewhat thin and dry. Not quite as good as I had hoped because to me, a stout should be thick and not thin. Not bad for a stout but I can honestly say I've had better in the style. I would still recommend this and you can compare it with Murphys (also on tap at Flatbread) to see for yourself.

Had on tap at the brewpub. Noire in the glass, rings of tan circle the glass as I sip this down. I thought the aroma was a bit thin, and bit alcoholicey. Tastewise, I got some oakey characterics more than anything else. There's some maltiness in there, but Oak was what I picked up more than anything else, but I don't think this was aged or anything...

Poured off the tap a nearly black but not quite opaque color that did allow some sunlight through. Good sized tan head displayed great retention and great lacing. Aromas of rich soil, caramel malt and some roasted coffee. Slightly sweet in general. The flavors were coffee, molasses, roasted malt all with earthy and musty undertones suggesting depth. The hops offer nice balance and a dry finish. Velvety mouthfeel and smoother than Sinatra. A well rounded stout and fine offering from the Queen City.

This was surprisingly good as I only know ZG to produce light and/or hoppy beers. A decent amount of chocolate flavor and full mouthfeel. Sweeter than most foreign stouts (which I like) but still a fairly dry finish.